In the production of semiconductor devices, microfabrication by lithography using a resist composition is carried out. The microfabrication is a processing method for forming a thin film of a photoresist composition on a semiconductor substrate such as a silicon wafer, irradiating the formed thin film with active light such as ultraviolet rays through a mask pattern in which the pattern of the device is drawn, developing the pattern, and etching the substrate using the obtained photoresist pattern as a protective film, whereby microscopic unevenness corresponding to the pattern is formed onto the substrate surface. In recent years, semiconductor devices have been further integrated and the active light used is also shortened from an i-line (wavelength 365 nm) and a KrF excimer laser (wavelength 248 nm) to an ArF excimer laser (wavelength 193 nm).
At present, lithography using EUV (abbreviation of extreme ultraviolet, wavelength 13.5 nm) exposure, which is a finer microfabrication technology, has been studied. The lithography using EUV exposure, however, has not yet been put into practical use (mass production) due to, for example, the delay in the development of a high-power EUV light source.
On the other hand, a method of applying a material for forming a reduced size resist pattern on a resist pattern to form a finer (reduced-size) resist pattern, and a coating material used for this method (for example, refer to Patent Document 1 to Patent Document 4) are known. By employing this method, a further finer resist pattern can be produced by lithography employing exposure by an ArF excimer laser which has already been put into practice.